Former Minister for Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku-Prempeh, popularly known as NAPO, has urged government to review the current teacher trainee allowance policy, warning that the model is no longer sustainable in the long term.
Speaking in an interview on GHOne TV with Serwaa Amihere on Thursday, December 18, 2025, Dr. Opoku-Prempeh said the policy must be examined within its historical context to determine whether it remains appropriate for today’s education system.
He explained that the allowance was introduced at a time when teacher trainees were placed on the Ghana Education Service payroll while still in school, a system he said created serious distortions, including cases where trainees who failed their examinations continued to receive payments.
According to him, subsequent reforms that upgraded teacher training certificates to diplomas effectively turned colleges of education into tertiary institutions, a shift that should have prompted a reassessment of the allowance to ensure parity with other tertiary institutions.
Dr. Opoku-Prempeh noted that the allowance later became politicised and transformed into a campaign promise, making it difficult for successive governments to discontinue the policy despite rising enrolment and increasing fiscal pressure.
Reflecting on his tenure as Minister of Education, he said his strategy was to gradually transition teacher trainees onto the Students Loan Scheme rather than abruptly cancelling the allowance.
He cited reforms he pursued, including ending diploma-level teacher training in favour of degree-only programmes, upgrading colleges of education into university colleges, and aligning entry requirements with those of public universities.
“These reforms were meant to professionalise teacher training and place it on the same footing as other university programmes,” he stated.
He further argued that government support should be more targeted, suggesting the use of interest-free student loans to attract students into priority sectors such as teaching, nursing, engineering and STEM-related fields.
While acknowledging that allowances could not be scrapped immediately due to infrastructure and welfare disparities between colleges of education and universities, Dr Opoku-Prempeh maintained that the policy should eventually be phased out once conditions improve.
“At a certain point, we must wean teacher trainees off allowances,” he said, stressing that the critical issue is determining when the country will be ready to make that transition.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
